Wow! Such a good movie.

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Take a dash of "My Darling Clementine," a pinch of "Stagecoach" and a touch of "High Noon" and you get "Dawn at Socorro," a string of western clichés so predictable you may have trouble staying awake. Rory Calhoun, with fake temple gray so outlandish it looks as if he's wearing a bad hairpiece, plays the thinly disguised Doc Holliday character. Piper Laurie, surprisingly attractive and magnetic plays his love interest. The always smarmy David Brian plays the chief heavy. If this movie didn't have such gorgeous Technicolor, imaginative camera setups and crisp direction, it would be a big "nothingburger." As played, it's a reasonably passable western. I give "Dawn at Socorro" a "5."

Inspired by the OK Corral, and specially Doc Holliday this is an entertaining, colorful western. Rory Calhoun's character coughs a lot, because of a bullet that cannot be removed near his lung, which because of his lifestyle becomes inflamed. He has to move to Colorado Springs to get better but before that he becomes involved in a gunfight in a corral. Piper Laurie is the daughter of a religious man who throws her out of the house and calls her Jezebel. She gets a job offer at the Casino in Socorro by David Brian, the owner. After the gunfight Calhoun takes the stagecoach to Socorro where he meets Piper and falls in love with her. Lee Van Cleef and Alex Nicol, the ones who remained from the Ferris(Clanton) family after the gunfight will try to kill Calhoun. There is a good poker game between Calhoon and Brian. The final scenes were probably inspired by "High Noon".

Over the years I missed seeing this Western Film of the 1950's. I have always followed the career of Rory Calhoun,(Brell Ruthledge Wade),"The Red House",'47, who rides into a Western town on a stagecoach and meets Piper Laurie,(Rannah Hayes),"The Grass Harp",'95, and becomes very attracted to her very innocent and loving appearance. Brell tells Rannah that he is going to Colorado Springs for health reasons and soon changes his mind after he follows her into a 'BIG CASINO' in town and finds out she has chosen a different profession than he figured she would have chosen. David Brian,(Dick Braden),"The Seven Minutes",'71, owns the 'BIG CASINO', and wants also to own Rannah Body & Soul so to speak. The Sheriff, Edgar Buchanan,(Cauthen),"Gunpoint",'66, keeps his eyes on Brell and wants him to get out of town on the next train as soon as possible to Colorado. This is a great film to view if you can catch it on TV!

I am not a fan of westerns, but I liked this one. It is interesting to see how Calhoun escapes gunman Nicol after killing Andrews and his family in a gunfight. The only problem is that he escapes from him and becomes an enemy to saloon owner Brian. An unusually exciting western.